Look for Time Warner's ugly duckling AOL to emerge as a swan when earnings are announced next week. Smart acquisitions, new hires, a move to drop the subscription wall, and a focus on original content have both analysts and agency heads praising the unit for the first time in years. ...Read the whole story

Holiday Inn Express has launched a search for a co-host to join actor Henry Dittman on a two-month cross-country road trip. Digitas, AOL and HBO are the creative and broadcast partners behind the project. ...Read the whole story

In a big win, Microsoft will manage the ad inventory as exclusive provider of banner, display and paid search advertising on the popular Digg.com--replacing Federated Media and Google. ...Read the whole story

aQuantive's Avenue A|Razorfish has promoted Clark Kokich to the position of CEO where he will focus less on regional operations and more on expansion through international growth and the development of emerging media. ...Read the whole story

Online video ad spending will register its greatest year-over-year growth in 2007--rising 89% to $775 million, forecasts eMarketer. Even more significant, the researcher says, the growth rate will remain near or above 40% through 2011, when video ad spending will reach $4.3 billion. ...Read the whole story

comScore released the first report on Web usage in Latin America (including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico), revealing that more than 53 million unique users 15 years or older logged on in June. ...Read the whole story